Drunk As a Lord

by Shiba, Ryotaro; Kato, Eileen

• ISBN13: 9784770027375
• ISBN10: 4770027370
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-10-01
• Publisher: Kodansha USA Inc

Summary

History is like the weather, with epic storms occurring only once in a hundred years. For Japan, the storm of the nineteenth century came in 1853, when a fleet of American ships, led by Commodore Matthew Perry, arrived in Edo Bay, demanding that the country open its ports after two hundred and fifty years of self-imposed isolation. For the next fifteen years, Japan was beset by panic, oppression, rebellion, and, finally, civil war. The short stories presented here depict four feudal lords -- or, in some cases, their retainers -- who lived through that storm, and about their very different approaches to the tumultuous period when Japan was on the brink of modernization.

Author Biography

The historical fiction of Ryotaro Shiba (1923-1996) is hugely popular in Japan. Born in Osaka, Shiba studied Mongolian at Osaka University of Foreign Languages. He worked for a time as a newspaper reporter, and began writing historical novels in the mid-1950s. His work is much loved for the insights it gives into the lives of people who lived in turbulent times of history. Shiba's novels have been made into several films Freelance translator and essayist Eileen Kato was born in Ireland in 1932, and received Masters of Arts degrees in French Studies from the National University of Ireland and in Japanese Studies from Columbia University

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. vi
Map	p. xiii
List of Characters	p. xiv
Drunk as a Lord	p. 1
The Fox-Horse	p. 103
Date's Black Ship	p. 159
The Ghost of Saga	p. 199
Author's Afterword	p. 247
Translator's Acknowledgments	p. 249
Glossary	p. 250
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